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November 08, 2007
What A Way To Start Out!
So here's something that's never made the 'blog...
Several months before we got married, Megan and I visited a travel "show", where cruise lines, travel planners, travel agents and the like try to book you on one of their great vacations. After not much discussion, we decided to go on a cruise for our Honeymoon. I had never cruised before, but Megan had, and she thought it would be a great way to start our new life together. Featuring good prices, a later departure date and some decent ports of call, we decided to go with Royal Carribean.
So as we are setting up our itineraries, and planning our honeymoon, I had an epiphany! We could get a balcony!
One that overlooks the ocean, of course. A balcony where by day, we could sit and enjoy drinks, while experiencing warm ocean breezes, as the clouds float by effortlessly. By night, we could step out onto the balcony, call room service at 3:00 in the morning, and have someone bring us drinks. At 3:00 in the morning! But there was my soon to be wife (now my current wife), knocking me down a few pegs, and helping me to learn how to lose arguments. (I love you sweetie!)
She explained that we would be spending money on something we wouldn't use. But, I countered, "Some dude would bring us drinks, to our balcony, at 3:00 in the morning!" To which she calmly replied, that we would not be spending much time in the room anyway, with all a ship that size has to offer; and thus, (she never uses the word 'thus", by the way...) we would not be spending much time on the balcony. Feeling the argument (okay, it was a discussion, not really an argument) slipping away from me, I relented. But we did compromise, and we got a cabin with window. This is a picture from the Royal Caribbean website...
And this is a picture of the room we stayed in...The neat decorations celebrating our marriage were placed there by Royal Caribbean staff in advance of our arrival, under the direction of my wife, who called ahead. Isn't she sweet?
So, off we were on our new lives together, and a five day run of the Western Caribbean. We stopped in Key West, Cancun, and Belize. In Belize, we decided to take an excursion, and go snorkeling. As this activity was new to us, we thought it would be fun. Before they give you your mask, you wipe some sort of sanitizing/anti-bacterial goo inside, to kill off anything that might have been left there from the vacationer before you. Then, we went snorkeling. (No pics here, just use your imagination.) That night, I was seasick, so much so that Megan went to dinner without me. The next day, which was our last full day at sea, something awful happened to my left eye. It was puffy, swollen, and just downright ugly looking. (No pics here, just use your imagination.) I could hardly open my eye, as any kind of light, bright or otherwise, was out of the question. So, I planned to pretty much stay in the cabin. Which I did. I attributed this eye nastiness to the sanitizing/anti-bacterial goo we put on the inside of our snorkeling masks. (Either that, or I didn't clean my mask very well.) So, sadly, my new wife was bored. Achingly so. With no one to explore the ship with, no one to drink with, she decided to take 20 dollars out of the money we brought with us, and go to the casino on board. I kissed her goodbye, and wished her good luck. No sooner had she left, than she returned. I said, "Lost it all, huh?" And she said, "Nope. Won 100 dollars!" "Get out, I said!" To which she said, she played one game of chance, it paid off for her, and she quit while she was ahead.
Now, neither of us are gamblers, in that we don't often get the chance to do it. So, since the ship had a week long bingo game going, with an ever increasing jackpot, I told her she should give it a shot, go buy a couple of cards, and see what happens. I again kissed her goodbye and wished her luck.
A few hours later, and after I had viewed Bruce Almighty about 42 dozen times, (that's the only movie playing on the in-ship TV system...) Megan returned. Because we're not gamblers, I thought she'd just plop down on the bed, and tell me she'd lost, and life was going to go on. Well, she plopped, and life was going to go on, but at least for us, with a little bit more money!
Megan won about 6700 dollars, playing bingo! The jackpot was at its highest level, since no one won during the week! There's no way. I was seasick, my eye hurt like heck, but all I could think of was the poor old woman Megan slugged, robbed, and left for dead in some lonely part of this massive sea going vessel. We aren't gamblers. We don't play bingo. There's just no way. But the cash was the proof. (That's how they give it to you. They don't cut you a check.) And just a note, ne'er do wells looking in, don't get any ideas. The money was spent about four seconds after she told me she won.
Of course, I missed all the fun because I was laid up with some infection and seasickness. (I believe that if I had gone, however, we would have lost, so I am sort of glad I missed it!) Megan was one of the last people standing, when they called N 37! It was the last number, on the last card, on the last day of our cruise! I did not realize that the bingo game was held in a theatre, that can seat a whole lot of folks, and that most of the seats in the theatre were taken. By this time, I was feeling a bit better, so we decided to go to the ships doctor, to have him look at my nasty eye. Walking down the corridor to the elevators, I remarked that no one knows who she is, and who we are, save for a few official types, who could know we just won a ton of money. But no sooner did we get to a common area, that a fellow cruise ship passenger said, "There goes the big winner!"
So, we went on a shopping spree. The money went to pay for a big chunk of our wedding, that we just spent a big chunk of money on. We invested in some nice watches, and a digital camera, that has exclusively taken all of the pictures you see here on OutOfHans.com.
Our first date was on July 13th, 2001. The Enchantment of The Seas had her maiden voyage on July 13, 1997. Fate? Chance? Destiny? Luck?
It's hard to tell who is the lucky one in this family...Megan for her big win on our Honeymoon, Jonah and Joshua for having such a wonderful mother, or me, for having such a fantastic wife and mother to our boys!!!
Posted by Jon at November 8, 2007 09:41 PM